"Most people with alcohol use disorders aren't getting any treatment, and only about 10 percent are getting a medication as part of their treatment," said lead researcher Dr. Daniel Jonas, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Two other drugs, nalmefene (Selincro) and topiramate (Topamax) also can help patients stop drinking, he said. Nalmefene is approved for pain relief and topiramate is approved to prevent seizures, but they are also used "off-label" to treat alcohol abuse.

Part of the reason these medications aren't used that much is that doctors aren't sure there are drugs that work, Jonas said. "But we do have treatments that work, and we should be using them more than we are," he added.

Jonas noted that these drugs should be used along with other treatments.

"We don't know if they should be used alone. They are always studied in conjunction with a psychological intervention, whether it's AA or cognitive behavioral therapy. The standard of care is that everyone should do one of those things and then you would add medication," he said. "When you add medication, you get added benefit."

The report was published May 14 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded the research.

Dr. Katharine Bradley, a senior investigator at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle and co-author of an accompanying journal editorial, said several effective medications are available to treat alcohol use disorders.

However, these medications are often not offered to patients seeking treatment for these disorders, she said.